Hi all,I've been looking at this forum for a while, so I thought I'd give it a go and join.I've got a long-standing project bike (love/hate affair) it's a Spondon framed Ducati 906 paso.I'll post a pic, so it will give everyone an idea of what I'm working towards and hopefully I can get some helpful tips and hints from everyone on the forum.

Hi, I'm not local to Spondon as I'm from the Liverpool area & this probably isn't the bike you think it is but I could be wrong? I've owned it for 11yrs or so & it was bought through Sports Motorcycles Racing Ltd from Steve, this is the one bike I won't part with. I should have it up and running after the new year after a suspension rebuild from Kais, new supercorsa tires, then back to G.I.A Engineering Nottingham, then a full rewire..... What did you get done by Spondon, I'd like to see if you've any pics?

I have had floating front discs and sliding adjusters for the swingarm made. Will post some pics or redirect you to the relevant ducatipaso.org page. The point of Spondon used to be racing frames when the mfr's were not much good. They are doing a lot of work for the 'New' Norton now but still make custom frames etc.

Lighter, stiffer & better handling chassis that can be adjusted to suit the rider, the bike they replaced would be a lot smaller too. Years ago frames were rubbish when it came to racing so the only way forward would be to buy a frame kit as back then there was lots of uk based frame builders to choose from. Steve Waynn had a company that was at the top for building Ducati race bikes, Mike Hailwood’s iconic and legendary F1 World Championship win on the Sports Motorcycles Ducati brought Steve’s Sports Motorcycles to the the attention of the world and boosted Ducati sales, as they went on to produce a staggering 7,500 Hailwood Replicas. Steve would use Spondon frames as they are considered the best and did so until Ducati them selfs asked Steve to stop building Spondon specials for race and basically work for them with dealerships.

I have had floating front discs and sliding adjusters for the swingarm made. Will post some pics or redirect you to the relevant ducatipaso.org page. The point of Spondon used to be racing frames when the mfr's were not much good. They are doing a lot of work for the 'New' Norton now but still make custom frames etc.

Yer that would be great if love to see em I wouldn't count on Norton doing anyone any favours when it comes to Spondon, they only bought the company so they could have the name on that wank TT bike of theirs, everything Spondon related was thrown in a skip and judging by some of the court cases that have popped up over Norton taking people's money and not giving them a bike for near to years, I wouldn't trust em as far as you could throw em......sos rant over :-/

Here is a the Spondon Ducati I was thinking of. This machine is owned by a rider from Hampshire but I expect the frame spec is the same as yours. I don't know what Ducati engine is in this one. I notice you have yet to add a radiator to your Paso, that will give you a chance to connect the thermostatic valve correctly vs Ducati's attempt.

Here is a the Spondon Ducati I was thinking of. This machine is owned by a rider from Hampshire but I expect the frame spec is the same as yours. I don't know what Ducati engine is in this one. I notice you have yet to add a radiator to your Paso, that will give you a chance to connect the thermostatic valve correctly vs Ducati's attempt.

there's also a link in the Speed trap read up to the new sports motorcycle Ducati shop but without Spondon built bikes as that chapter in life has already been set.

My radiator turned up through the post yesterday, I bought a sv650 radiator that I'll use to get the bike further along, I'll get a thicker rad made up at a later date, I've also an aftermarket oil cooler too that used to sit in front of the old radiator.

The Spondon floaters are a huge improvement over the standard cast-iron rotor braking which couldn't be much worse. How this bike got through TUV testing etc with that set up is beyond me. You might have some trouble setting up the radiator - thermostatic valve etc since the hose routing is far from ideal. These images show what I've done vs the standard set up. Blue is cold/cool water, Red is hot and Green is reheat for cold start-up. The problem is that Ducati are switching the thermostat with water cooled from the radiator. I noticed my 906 ran hot so purchased an Aprilia thermostat rated at 75C and when I removed all the hosing and inspected the Ducati thermostat it too was rated at 75C. I racked my brains for ages trying to think of an alternate method and settled on dropping all hoses underneath the frame and reconnecting there. Sorry about all the copper connectors, one day I'll send it all to Samco. There's no shame beneath a full fairing. The routing I have employed runs the water backwards thru the radiator but finally has stopped the over-heating. The 906 coolant hosing is the same on the 851 and they have made the same mistake. You buy a new bike that runs hot and is prone to over-heating. It's quite a blunder.

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